Friends share love of vinyl by opening Ribbon Records

Peorian Dan Plaag has been collecting music since he was a kid. It started with a CD of Led Zeppelin’s “Four,” and his collection eventually expanded to include vinyl records — more than 2,000 of them. “I was always fascinated with records, how the sound could be com...

Peorian Dan Plaag has been collecting music since he was a kid. It started with a CD of Led Zeppelin’s “Four,” and his collection eventually expanded to include vinyl records — more than 2,000 of them.

“I was always fascinated with records, how the sound could be coming off this little piece of plastic with a needle,” said Plaag, 27, who works as an electrician.

His love of records — and fondness for the hunt that goes along with the collector’s lifestyle — prompted him to start Ribbon Records, a vinyl consignment shop in the Murray Building Downtown. He runs the store with friend Noah Lambert. They started out by offering the records of just four consignors, and now offer more than 4,500 records.

Here’s how it works: Record owners bring in their stuff. They can set their own price, or Plaag and Lambert will set the price for them. The inventory is posted on the website, RibbonRecords.com. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays for buyers to dig through the stacks. If a record sells, Ribbon Records takes 25 percent of the profit.

“There are a million convenient ways to buy music, but anyone who listens to vinyl is interested in the experience, too,” Lambert said.“We’re trying to stress that community aspect of it, which you don’t get when you go to Wal-Mart and pick out a CD.”

After years of visiting record stores, the two friends had several ideas on how their store should be. They keep the cardboard boxes that hold the records only halfway full, so you can easily glance album titles as you flip through. They set up a listening station, because they know that a buyer might like to hear a snippet before purchasing.

A canvas curtain separates Ribbon Records from the rest of the Murray Building’s ground floor. Occasionally, resident black cat Meeper can be seen doing impressive acrobatics up the curtain or snoozing on the desk in the corner. One whole wall is decorated with records, which must be “either a great album or cool cover,” Plaag says.

The records range from the common (four different copies of “Close to the Edge” by Yes for sale) to the obscure (a first pressing of the Virgin Prunes’ “The Moon Looked Down and Laughed.”)

On a recent trip in, we marveled at “A Lotta Limbo: World’s Longest Limbo Record!” played by the composer Billy Strange with the Telstars. There were gems by Van Morrison, Iggy Pop, Curtis Mayfield, The Who, Radiohead.

You won’t find everything, though. Plaag and Lambert have turned away albums by Barbara Streisand and Barry Manilow, and most Christmas albums — especially the Firestone Tire Christmas records, which the company used to give out with a set of tires. “Nobody wanted it then, and nobody wants it now,” Lambert said.

Page 2 of 2 - They’ve also refused several copies of Carole King’s “Tapestry,” which was released in 1971 and sold more than 25 million copies.

“You can walk down the street, and somebody’s throwing it out their window,” Plaag said. “If we weren’t selective, it would turn into stuff nobody would want to look at. We want to give people a choice, but there’s a line you can’t cross.”

Matt McClellan, 37, of Peoria, recently dropped off a bin of about 150 records for consignment.

“I don’t have the time to listen to all of them,” he said. “(Selling them here) is less of a drag than driving up to Chicago.”

McClellan left with a newly purchased record by folk singer James Lee Stanley, 1982’s “Eclipse.” That’s the beauty of vinyl consignment — one man’s discarded record is another man’s new toy.

“We’ll take a record in and figure it’ll never go anywhere, it’ll be here until the end of time,” Lambert said. “And someone comes in the next day and buys it.”

Danielle Hatch can be reached at 686-3262 or dhatch@pjstar.com. Read more at blogs.pjstar.com/thebuzz/.